Saturday, June 14, 2008

Saddleback Church and gays

Some disappointing news from the Straight, Not Narrow blog. I had always hoped that Rick Warren might be a little more open minded.

Rick Warren Welcomes Gays to His Church--Oops, Never Mind

The story had started circulating that Rick Warren, the author of the wildly successful best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life" and pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, had invited a group of gay fathers to worship and meet with him on Fathers Day.

Here is one link to that story passed on by SNN reader Mark:

However, Rev. Warren issued this clarification, reported at the bottom of the story linked above:

Following news of the plan by gay fathers to attend Saddleback Church this coming Sunday, the church’s pastor, Rev. Rick Warren, has issued a statement clarifying the church’s role. “We did not invite this group, and I will not be meeting with them,” he said, adding that he had a previous commitment and would not be in church on Sunday.

The stern tone of this statement was very disappointing. It seems the Purpose Driven Life author sees no purpose in meeting with members of the GLBT faith community. What a shame and an opportunity lost.

4 comments:

Doorman-Priest said...

Oh, come on, you surely didn't really believe it did you?

Fran said...

God have mercy.

I am going to link to you in a post that I have just written on the topic of faith and LGBT people.

Pax.

Deborah O'Hara said...

I didn't realize that he took that stance. Kind of disappointing. Even if he feels that being gay is a horible sin, wouldn't you think he'd want to talk to the "sinners" in an attempt to show them the "error" of their ways. Not following the example of Christ very well, is he? I guess he has another "purpose".

Robert said...

Fran: Thanks for the link.

Deb: You are right. I'm very disappointed, but like doorman-priest observed, I really should not have expected anything different. But it is always nice to hope for love and mercy.